HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



21 



quickfilvcr and vitriol we do not know the ufe which 

 they made ; the other minerals were employed in paint- 

 ing and dying. Of amber and afphaltum, or bitumen 

 of Judea, there was and flill is great abundance on both 

 coafts, and they were both paid in tribute to the king 

 of Mexico from many places of the empire. Amber 

 they ufed to fet in gold for ornament ; afphaltum was 

 employed in certain incenfe offerings, as we fhall find 

 hereafter. 



With refpeft to precious flones, there were, and flill 

 are, diamonds, though few in number ; amethyfts, cats- 

 eyes, turquoifes, cornelians, and fome green ftones re- 

 fembling emeralds, and not much inferior to them ; and 

 of all thefe flones, the Mixtecas, the Zapotecas, and Co- 

 huixcas, in whofe mountains they were found, paid a 

 tribute to the king. Of their plenty and eflimation with 

 the Mexicans, and the manner in which they wrought 

 them, we fhall fpeak more properly in another place. 

 The mountains which lay on the coafl of the gulf of 

 Mexico, between the port of Vera Cruz and the river 

 Coatzacuaico, namely, thofe of Chinantia, and the pro- 

 vince of Mixtecas, furniflied them with cryflal ; and the 

 cities of Tochtepec, Cuetlachtlan, Cozamaloapan, and 

 others, were obliged to contribute annually to the lux- 

 ury of the court. 



Thefe mountains did not lefs abound in various kinds 

 of ll:one, valuable in architecture, fculpture, and other 

 arts. There are quarries of jafper, and marble of dif- 

 ferent colours in the mountains of Calpolalpan to the 

 cafl of Mexico ; in thofe which feparate the two vallies 

 of Mexico and Toloccan, now called Monte de los Cru^ 

 zes^ and in thofe of the Zapotecas : of alabafler in Te- 

 calco (at prefent Tecale\ a place in the neighbourhood 



of 



